Just three weeks now until West Seattle Community Garage Sale Day 2016 on May 14th, and almost 200 sales are signed up! We’ve set the registration deadline for this Wednesday night, April 27th, 11:59 pm – by then, signups will have been open for more than three weeks, ample time for the word to get around. Then, we start working on the map, which as always will be available in clickable online and printable/downloadable PDF versions, one week BEFORE sale day. Having a sale? Not signed up yet? Do it now – just go here. And if you have problems/questions, please e-mail us at garagesale@westseattleblog.com – thanks!

Saturday, May 14th, is ever closer, and the 12th annual West Seattle Community Garage Sale Day is now up to 180 sales of all sizes, all over the peninsula. If you’re just waiting excitedly to shop, remember, the map will be available a week in advance. If you’re planning to have a sale but haven’t registered – time’s running out, so head on over to The Form and get on the list!

Just four weeks now until the 2016 edition of West Seattle Community Garage Sale Day – our region’s BIGGEST event of its kind – with 145 sales on the list and headed for the map! Whatever you’re looking for, you’re bound to find it somewhere – and you’re bound to find at least one sale in your neighborhood. 9 am-3 pm Saturday, May 14th, is the date; the map will be available online one week before that. Registration continues for at least another week and a half, but don’t procrastinate if you’re planning a sale – just get it done, by signing up here. If you have a question, by the way, ask here or e-mail us at garagesale@westseattleblog.com – thanks!

We’re now exactly one month away from West Seattle Community Garage Sale Day 2016 – and more than 100 sales are signed up! They’re all over the peninsula, from Puget Ridge to Highland Park, North Delridge to South Delridge, Gatewood to Westwood, Alki to Admiral to The Junction to Morgan Junction … group sales, solo sales, block sales … it all means we are in for another great WSCGSD on Saturday, May 14th. If YOU are planning a sale and ready to sign up – start here! If you’re planning on shopping, remember the map will be available a week in advance, so check here and/or our parent site West Seattle Blog after May 7th.

If you’ve been part of WSCGSD in past years – we haven’t changed anything except expanding the word limit for your listing on the map to 20 words – the field in the online version has lots of room, but the printable/downloadable PDF is the reason we need to set a limit. The fees are the same as they’ve been since we took over WSCGSD in 2008; they cover our production and promotion costs (and anything left over supports parent site West Seattle Blog‘s ongoing operations as West Seattle’s 24/7 news source).

*Sale day is Saturday, May 14, 2016.

*Official sale hours: 9 am-3 pm, but if you want to start yours earlier/end it later, that’s up to you – you can say that in your “ad” text (but no late starts/early ends, though, it’s important to cover the official time period – thanks!).

*Registration gets you on the map, which is published here and on West Seattle Blog – as well as promoted/advertised regionally and in our social-media channels – with clickable and printable (PDF) versions. The map is ready a week in advance and assigns each sale a number, which you can use for cross-reference and for your own promotion (“come see us, we’re sale #33!”), etc.

If you have a small amount of stuff to sell and/or no place for a sale, check in at Hotwire Online Coffeehouse ASAP for a free spot in the Hotwire courtyard or Ginomai across the alley. There’ll be one general map listing for Hotwire; if you sell there, you’re still welcome to buy your own (optional) mention on the list via the form above – just mention Hotwire/4410 California SW as the sale address.

P.S. We haven’t set the end date for registration yet – we usually wait to see how things are going – but we keep signups open for at least three weeks, so there’s plenty of time for you to decide whether to jump in.

As promised, we’ll be opening registration for West Seattle Community Garage Sale Day 2016 today – not quite ready yet to launch the form but we expect to be, no later than early evening. The big day is Saturday, May 14th, and we’re looking forward to another fun one!

Two months away from this year’s edition of West Seattle Community Garage Sale Day – May 14, 2016 – and we’ve decided to open registration on April 4th. So check back that day for the registration form – and have fun in the meantime getting ready to sell and/or shop!

What a day it was – and now it’s history – the first 300+-sale West Seattle Community Garage Sale Day. (341 was the final total, after a few last-minute cancellations.)

Not only was it sunny … the temp hit 80. (Not until after the official closing bell at 3 pm, but it was warm enough by then – at one of the last sales we visited, in Highland Park around 2:30 pm, we spotted someone walking by with an umbrella.) THANK YOU for a great time. Here’s something to close with: Danny McMillin made a time-lapse video of his Alki sale:

We’ve already mentioned that more than half a dozen sales promise lemonade. Here’s one more option, a Gatewood fundraiser for the earthquake-devastated people of Nepal:

Tagging onto WS Community Garage Sale Day tomorrow, kids from 5+ families in our neighborhood will be holding a bake sale / lemonade stand Saturday morning 9 am-noon to benefit Nepal SEEDS, a nonprofit organization working in villages in Nepal. Our friend and West Seattleite Cris Miller has been working with Nepal SEEDS for years and is on their board. They are in major fundraising mode to assist in earthquake relief and re-building in the villages they work in. Stop by for a treat and support a very worthy cause! The kids will be waving you down in the 7800 block of California Ave. SW, between Portland and Kenyon.

(UPDATED) As of midnight Friday night, our sale total is 341 – from the 351 original registrants. The online version of the map has been updated – but since the printable map can’t be changed, please scratch these four sales off your copy, cancellations that came in after the printable map was locked in:

#38, #42, #49, #153, #219, #247

If any other cancellations come in early Saturday (CALL, please, 206-293-6302), we’ll add them here as well as on the online map page. Thanks!

Sunshine is still in the forecast – warm, too (high in the upper 70s) – so our tradition of perfect garage-saling weather continues. If you are somehow just finding out about this, Saturday, May 9th, is the day, 9 am-3 pm, 340+ sales of all sizes all over West Seattle!

Also – for sellers and for people who might want the fun of shopping AND the fun of donation – our page listing “who’s accepting leftovers/donations” is now up and running. Wide array this time – dropoff, pickup, some open Sunday and beyond.

P.S. Any last-minute cancellations will be noted on the online map, and we will mention the sale #’s here too so that if you have printed out the downloadable version, you can scratch them off. So far, only two since the downloadable version went live – the online map is updated but for the printed version, please scratch out #42 and #219.

Now it’s down to sellers getting ready, shoppers making their plan, and waiting for Saturday to get here – the forecast looks incredibly perfect, mostly sunny and mid-to-upper-70s! We now have the downloadable/printable map/guide/list of sales ready to go – it’s here (and it’s long – 21 pages). And of course you can click, browse, search the official online map here.

As promised, the 2015 West Seattle Community Garage Sale Day map will be live (here and via West Seattle Blog) by day’s end – we’re just making some final tweaks. This will be the online version, with the printable/downloadable PDF version to follow. Meantime, are you ready for the big day, just one week away? 340+ sales! Stand by for highlights!

Just in case you’re wondering how things are going, some miscellaneous notes:

*We will have at least 330 sales – probably 340+ – depending on last-minute cancellations. Speaking of which, if you are a seller, this is your last chance to get off the map if you have to cancel … please call us, 206-293-6302, don’t e-mail, ASAP!

*The descriptions of sales and highlighted items are awesome as always. We took notes while proofreading the listings as part of the mapmaking process. Mentioned a few of them in this update yesterday on West Seattle Blog.

*We wanted to remind you that again this year, the second Saturday in May is ALSO “Stamp Out Hunger” – the door-to-door, mailbox-to-mailbox Letter Carriers’ food drive. Make plans to have a bag of nonperishable food to donate – set it out by your door/mailbox/wherever your letter carrier stops, before you head out for a day of shopping OR selling.

*And again, the map will be available starting this Saturday. The online version is always the first one we get up – watch for the announcement here and on WSB.

*Invite your friends, relatives, co-workers, etc. to come over and garage-sale with you on May 9th – we would love to see people from all over the region as usual – here’s an 8 1/2 x 11-size poster you can print and put up on a bulletin board of your choice.

A couple WSCGSD 2015 sellers have contacted us saying they saw a map somewhere and are concerned that they’re not on it. Please note that **this year’s map is not out yet** so if you saw a map somewhere (maybe something Google grabbed onto in recent years) – it’s NOT this year’s map – look closely; we label every year’s map very clearly with its year, just in case something like this happens. As mentioned in every update we’ve published and in all communications with sellers – we take about a week post-registration to shine everything up (fix address formats, proofread the ads, contact sellers with questions if we have any) and get the map together, and as soon as it’s ready, we’ll announce it here, on our main site West Seattle Blog, on our WSB social channels, etc., and it will be clearly labeled 2015 WEST SEATTLE COMMUNITY GARAGE SALE DAY MAP. Thanks so much – 13 days to go!

Saturday, May 9th, will be the 11th annual West Seattle Community Garage Sale Day and the biggest one ever. By the time registration closed Thursday night, more than 320 sales had signed up! All sizes, from individual homes to organizations/schools/businesses and multi-seller sites (including WSB sponsors Hotwire Online Coffeehouse and C & P Coffee Company), to block sales around the peninsula. WSB has coordinated WSCGSD since its fourth year (2008); here’s our update on what happens now:

*We are finalizing the list so we can make the map, which debuts on May 2nd so shoppers have a week to plan ahead – the clickable and printable/downloadable versions will be featured here and on westseattleblog.com.

*If you’re a seller, please check that you got both receipts, the confirmation from us AND the registration-fee receipt from PayPal (which would be via our LLC name, A Drink of Water and a Story Interactive). If you had problems paying, please e-mail us at garagesale@westseattleblog.com if you don’t hear from us first.

*We’ll be mailing (e- or postal- depending on what you marked on the registration form) info packets to sellers, including the “official participant” sign you are welcome to use with your signage.

*If you need to cancel your sale, please call us – 206-293-6302 – by May 1st so we can take you off the map. After that, last-minute cancellations can be taken off the online map, but not the printable/downloadable version.

*In sale updates over the next week-plus, we’ll have a poster file available for anybody who wants to put one up at their school, workplace, wherever – we promote WSCGSD regionally, and have heard of shoppers coming from hours away, but your help in spreading the word will be awesome. The easiest web address to share is westseattlegaragesale.com, though the map will be here too (and will have a special “tab” under the sunset header).

*If you’re a prospective shopper – watch for the map starting May 2nd, and whether you’re just going to walk around your neighborhood and see who’s selling what, or planning a wider expedition, get ready for a great day. Note that some sellers might start earlier or end later than the 9 am-3 pm window on May 9th – if they provided that information, it’ll be in their “ad” info accompanying the map.

ALSO: In years past, we’ve published info from nonprofits making special arrangements for sellers to donate leftovers, and/or inviting people to shop for potential donations of certain items the nonprofit needs, so that WSCGSD can have great community ripple effects beyond the fun of buying/selling. Any org thinking about either of these, please e-mail garagesale@westseattleblog.com ASAP so we can discuss. Thanks!

Another BIG West Seattle Community Garage Sale Day is in the works – 280 sales on the list/map now, and 24 hours left to register – the deadline is 11:55 pm Thursday (April 23). If you’ve been mulling it over and think you want to give it a try, please sign up now so you don’t miss the cutoff – just go here. If you’re not selling, get ready to shop, shop, shop on Saturday, May 9th, 9 am-3 pm, all over West Seattle (the map will be ready for your perusal one week in advance).

The clock’s ticking if you are thinking of having a sale on West Seattle Community Garage Sale Day 2015 – coming up 9 am-3 pm Saturday, May 9 – but haven’t signed up yet: Deadline to register is this Thursday night, April 23rd – we need time to get the maps made and circulate them around the region to ensure maximum buyer power! You can register right here, right now – follow this link. Once the map debuts on May 2nd, you’ll know the number of your sale, so you can invite friends, relatives, co-workers, etc., and tell them you’re #XX on the map, but don’t wait to tell them about WSCGSD – plenty of sales to go around for everyone, so start letting them know this will be THE day to visit WS (if they’re not here already).

Is your sale signed up? Or – got your shopping bags ready? West Seattle Community Garage Sale Day 2015 is just THREE WEEKS AWAY, coming up Saturday, May 9th, 9 am-3 pm, and more than 180 sales are registered. Deadline to sign up, if you’re having a sale, is this Thursday (April 23rd) – so go here when you’re ready. Thanks!

Four weeks from today, the 11th annual West Seattle Community Garage Sale Day will make our peninsula the epicenter of person-to-person recycling … and if you’re interested in having a sale as part of it (120 sales of all sizes are on the list already, but it’s a big peninsula, so there’s room for more), you still have time to sign up. Just go here. Sale times/date: 9 am-3 pm Saturday, May 9, 2015. You can start early and/or end late, but please make sure your sale is open for at least the official six-hour span. Thanks! More updates to come!

Six days into signups for the 11th annual West Seattle Community Garage Sale Day … and we have 85 sales on the list! Registration usually runs about three weeks so you have two more weeks to get signed up but … don’t run the risk you’ll forget … every year somebody does, and if we’ve already started mapmaking, it’s too late! So just go here now and get it done – 9 am-3 pm Saturday, May 9, 2015, see you all over West Seattle shopping and selling!

Dreaming of spring … selling and buying … 30 sales are on the list already after the first full day of registration for 2015’s West Seattle Community Garage Sale Day (which is coming up Saturday, May 9, 2015, 9 am-3 pm). Want to join them? Here’s the official online form.

We opened registration late last night for the 11th annual West Seattle Community Garage Sale Day – which is set for Saturday, May 9, 2015 – and 20 sales are already on their way to the map! If you’re planning a sale, sign up now – here’s the official online form.

Just came across this on Twitter, so sharing it for fans of community garage-sale days like ours: On the north side of Ballard, it’s Crown Hill Garage Sale Day tomorrow (Saturday, July 26th, 9 am-3 pm). Go here for the map and lists.

West Seattle Community Garage Sale Day seems to be the season-opener – since our big day on May 10th, we’ve already had the area’s longest-running event, in Greenwood, and now we’re looking ahead to June 7th in Shorewood. As announced:

The Shorewood Streets of garage sales is right around the corner on Saturday June 7th from 9 am-4 pm.

As usual the neighborhood will be filled with sales, deals and deal seekers. The different entrance points to the neighborhood will be lit up with large signs and balloons with maps available in boxes. For those more tech inclined we also have an online map that is live up the minute with sale locations. More people are joining in every day, we usually have around 50 sales!

Join us in Shorewood and support this 20+ year tradition! There is a reason the sale has keep strong for so long, great sellers and customers!

One week after West Seattle Community Garage Sale Day, it’s a community GSD with even-deeper roots – the inspiration for WSCGSD, we’re told – the big day in Greenwood. More than 100 sales, 9 am-3 pm on Saturday, May 17th. Details here!

The sun came out just in time and stayed out for most of the day (even when the clouds moved in, they did NOT rain on us) … thanks for being part of the 10th annual West Seattle Community Garage Sale Day. Every year there seems to be a photo epitomizing the quirky joy of garage-saling on the big day, and this one came in via Twitter:

Next WSCGSD – May 9, 2015. From time to time inbetween sale days, we’ll update this page with info on other sale days (Greenwood has theirs next Saturday, May 17th, for example). We’ll also be checking in the week ahead to see how generous sellers and shoppers were with their post-sale donations. Thanks again!

Late last night, continuing to get ready for today’s West Seattle Community Garage Sale Day (9 am-3 pm, find the maps here), we received this note:

Each year, we play “West Seattle Yard Sale Bingo” and people we meet love the bingo cards we make. I thought I’d send along photos of our yard sale bingo cards in case anyone else wants to print them and play along.

Five separate cards are attached. Items are repeated on different cards, so our rules are:

1. You may not mark an item on your bingo card unless someone else in the group sees the item to verify.

2. Only the first person to spot the item may mark it on their card.

3. Only one item per yard sale counts: for instance “martini glass” appears on two cards, but only the first person to call it gets to mark it, even if there is more than one martini glass at the yard sale.

We’ve been watching the forecast all day … and right now it’s looking dry. Might not be the brilliant sunshine of the past few West Seattle Community Garage Sale Days, but hey, with so much rain this year, just having it take a break until oh, say, Saturday evening, will be great.

One more reminder that you can find the maps here – note there have been a couple last-minute cancellations, still leaving us with 282 sales as of this writing, biggest WSCGSD yet! Remember you can search the online map (follow that link) by clicking the blue word “Search” near the top right, and then using the dropdown (which defaults to “name”) to choose “description,” entering your search term(s), and then looking for a list of sales alongside the map that have what you want!

The Shop ‘n’ Shop Thrift Shop below the Senior Center of West Seattle wants you to know:

During and after the West Seattle Community Garage Sale Day, the West Seattle Senior Center’s Stop n Shop Thrift store will be taking donations of any unwanted and unsold garage sale merchandise during extended business hours of 10-7 pm. The Stop n Shop Thrift shop will have extra volunteers on staff to help you unload your unsold items so you don’t have to drag them back into your homes! All proceeds from donated items help to fund the Senior Center’s many wonderful programs and opportunities for our local seniors. Please consider us before you put all that unwanted stuff back into your garage. Just pull up out front or back, we’ll do all the rest. Thank you!

Out back would be the alley running south of Oregon between California and 42nd.

An extra reason to stop by the West Seattle High School fundraising sale on WS Community Garage Sale Day this Saturday (May 10th) – you can sign up for the West Seattle 5K, coming up Sunday, May 18th, 9 am on Alki, raising money for the WSHS PTSA to help the school. WSHS is at 3000 California SW.

One week from now, hundreds will be selling, thousands will be shopping, from Duwamish Head to Brace Point to White Center to Highland Park, on the 10th annual West Seattle Community Garage Sale Day. As promised, you’ll be able to see the map here later today – and it will include the sale numbers, so sellers can start telling everyone they know to come see them at sale # (etc.). We’re also e-mailing the “packets” to sellers this morning, with various info, and we’re post-office-bound with hard-copy packets for the handful of the sellers who requested that version.

WSCGSD has also come to be a day of generosity, as sellers donate unsold/unwanted items to nonprofits, including longtime official WSCGSD partner Northwest Center and recently added partner WestSide Baby, among others. New this year, a book drive for local schools, spearheaded by Denny International Middle School – and book dropoffs are under way even now – here’s a message from Denny’s principal Jeff Clark:

<blockquote>Motivating and exciting students is an important part of education at Denny International Middle School and the other schools in West Seattle. One of the easiest ways to motivate students to read is to have books they are excited about reading. We are seeking donated books to help us to match each student to many appropriately-leveled high-interest books. Your book donation would help us with our efforts.

How You Can Help: You can drop off books at any of these locations:

1. We will have a truck marked Denny Middle School in the West Seattle Junction across from Junction True Value from 3 to 6 PM on May 10th.

2. Hotwire Coffee – 4410 California Avenue SE, any time during open hours thru May 18th . … Note: Hotwire Coffee, as part of its support for the West Seattle community, will give a certificate good for $1 off any purchase at Hotwire to the first 25 people who drop off 10 or more books.

4. Roxbury Bowling Lanes, 2823 Roxbury St, 935-7400, from 11 AM to 7 PM, thru Sunday, May 18th … Note: Roxbury Lanes, as part of its support for the Seattle community, will give a certificate good for two people for two free games of bowling for any book donation over 20 books.

Some books may be more suitable for older or younger readers. We plan to sort the donated books and find appropriate places for them, including local elementary schools, Chief Sealth International High School, and the West Seattle Senior Center.

Thank you very much for you book donations to help the scholars of West Seattle Schools!</blockquote>

This information is also in the packet going to sellers and will be mentioned on the map pages too, here and on WSB.

Mapmaking is in its final stages, after we proofread all 280+ listings. Starting Friday (as in, hours from now) we will roll out some final info – from how you can participate in donation drives on West Seattle Community Garage Sale Day, to collection drives post-sale, to the info packets that we’ll send to participants. It’s all about logistics now – including your help in making sure friends and family know about it, so they can come wander West Seattle’s miles of sales on Saturday, May 10th. Check back here for updates, and watch WSB too! Getting closer!